`TOTA` BETA 2 IS HERE
(14 November 2007, 06:50 | GalCiv2 | 17 comments) Late last week Stardock released the second beta for Twilight of the Arnor, the second expansion to Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar. New features in this beta are tournaments, updated tech tree display, revised planet surfaces, the Korath and Torians civs (with custom tech trees) and a revision of the Arceans. You can get more details on this update, with screenshots, from the Stardock forums, as well as read the full change log.

Stardock plans to post a new beta update every week between now and the release of the game (which may be in either December or January). The plans for this week`s release are to bring back the Yor and to enhance the Torians as well as the Tournaments feature. The first official Tournament will hopefully be organised next week. To take part in the beta program, all you have to do is pre-order the game. - Locutus

ANOTHER DA QUICK-FIX
(9 November 2007, 01:40 | GalCiv2 | 2 comments) Stardock released another quick-fix update for Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar, bringing the current version up to v1.8d. This update squashes a few bugs found during Twilight of the Arnor beta testing and deals mostly with savegames issues related to ship designs. Check out the fix-list on the official site and download the patch from Stardock Central. - Locutus

`TOTA` BETA 1 IS HERE
(2 November 2007, 12:20 | GalCiv2 | 17 comments) The first beta of the latest Galactic Civilizations II expansion pack, Twilight of the Arnor, was released this week and is available to anyone who pre-orders the game. A very short overview of the features in this first expansion beta can be found on the official site.

Brad Wardell notes in the official announcement: There are plenty of bugs in the beta. I know, I`ve seen them and some of them are mine. (like the Terran Alliance tech tree not having plasma weapons tied to lasers -- doh!). We will be releasing additional updates to beta 1 this week as we work through such buglets.

And indeed, 48 hours later an update, Beta 1a, was released with a long list of fixes and tweaks. Brad goes on to talk about planet textures:

One of the things you`ll notice are the planetary textures. Right now, we`re just testing the new system so the planets generally have the same planet textures. But by release, there will be plenty to keep it unique.

Not only do planets look better but they use a fraction of the memory. When complete, we should be able to double the number of planets on "abundant" over what we have now for users of Twilight of the Arnor.

One of the big stories with Twilight of the Arnor from a technical point of view is that the new graphics look so much better while using so far less memory.

Visit the GalCiv II website to find more info and a bunch of screenshots showing off the new goodies in this expansion. Twilight of the Arnor is scheduled for a Christmas release and can be pre-ordered through Stardock. - Locutus

WAITING FOR 1.7? IT`S NOT COMING...
(2 November 2007, 11:58 | GalCiv2 | 2 comments) If you`re still waiting for release of the v1.7 patch for Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar then you`re out of luck, because it`s not coming out. Instead, Stardock decided to cram in so much stuff that they had to rename it v1.8!

The new version includes a ton of new features such as new planetary governors, an event log, a detailed lease screen, a local high score screen, updated AI, improved planetary improvement graphics, memory optimizations, improved performance, and more.

You can view a full change list on the official GalCiv2 forums. Additionally, within days of the original release they also released two further updates, v1.8b and v1.8c, to take care of some balance issues and a critical bug-fix that slipped through the cracks. As always, you can download these patches through Stardock Central. - Locutus

BRAD WARDELL/GAMESHARK INTERVIEW
(7 October 2007, 14:41 | GalCiv2 | 17 comments) Gameshark has a great interview with Stardock`s own Brad Wardell.

The interview, done by Gameshark`s Troy F. Goodfellow, covers the latest in the Galactic Civilization II series, covering the up and coming Twilight of the Arnor expansion pack.

One of the articles questions from Goodfellow was The Twilight of the Arnor ends the campaign story. Did you initially conceive it as a trilogy?

Wardell answers Yes. In Dread Lords, players are introduced to both the Arnor and the Dread Lords in the opening, but they only deal with the Dread Lords. In Dark Avatar, players recognize the Dread Lords’ strategy of conquest – manipulation of the younger races. Twilight of the Arnor brings back the Arnor in an effort to deal with the Dread Lord menace once and for all.

Check the whole article out for some exciting news! - Grandpa Troll

TOTA TECH TREE REVISITED
(7 October 2007, 14:24 | GalCiv2 | 17 comments) Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor article, on the official website hosted by its parent company Stardock, covers the new and reworked technolgy tree.

According to this article The technology tree in Galactic Civilizations II is one of the most controversal parts of the game.

For some people, the descriptions of technologies have too much humor which they find off putting. Others find the descriptions, particularly the early ones, too light on details and phoned in.

For the expansion pack, Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor, we have the opportunity to go back and redo the technology tree. Most technology descriptions will be rewritten. Some techs will be removed entirely. And a lot of new technologies will be added.

Some of the areas covered in this article are Hyper Fusion Reactors,Artificial Gravity,Death Furnaces and Slave Pits.

Check this article out and see for yourself if this is not yet another step in the right direction for Stardock to pursue and implement! - Grandpa Troll

-- Galactic Civilizations 2 News Archive